Hero
by whitem
Summary: What makes a hero? After receiving a special letter for a sick fan, Kim figures it out.
Here's something I dusted off and finished. Yeah, I've still got others I need to finish (I'm sounding like a broken record here) but believe me, I'm working on them as well.

So… I hope y'all like this…

Standard disclaimer applies. Please see the header of any of my other stories if your curious.

Hero

The one thing Kim really liked to do on her down time from being a teenage super hero and studying for Mr. Barkin's pop quizzes, was reading her fan mail. She would receive a combination of either a message on her main site, an email, and even the old pencil to paper.

She had just finished reading the last message posted to her site, and Kim started on the small stack of letters she received in the mail. The first one she picked up and tore open was your standard "I'm your biggest fan!" type of letter. The next one was one of the few that she wanted to burn, as it had so many sexual innuendoes, and went into quite explicit ways this person wanted to… she couldn't even finish it.

The next envelope she picked up looked almost like a piece of junk mail, but something caught her eye. The envelope had the stamp of Middleton Medical Center on it, but her address was hand written.

The young hero opened her letter and unfolded the piece of paper. Inside was the following correspondence…

 _Dear Kim Possible,_

 _I know you probably receive letters like this all the time, but I truly admire you for everything you do. You're such an inspiration to me, with how you're always fighting villains and saving the world from time to time._

 _My name is Katherine Aldredge, and I'm 10 years old, but everyone calls me Katie. I'm writing to you from the hospital, as I'm in end-stage brain cancer. It's been hard, with all the tests and procedures that the doctors do, but I'm still fighting._

 _My doctor asked me what I would like to do before, well… when I'm gone, and I've always wanted to meet you. I've been moved around to different hospitals and it looks like Middleton Medical Center will be my last. In fact, I think your Mom is my doctor. She has red hair like yours, but it's a little darker, I think, and she has blue eyes instead of green, like you. I was always a little scared to ask her if she was your mom, so I never did._

 _Anyway, I know your super busy with school and fighting villains and everything, but if you ever have some time, could you please stop by?_

 _Thank-you for being my hero Kim, and for teaching me how to keep on fighting._

 _Your friend,_

 _Katie_

Kim sniffed and wiped a tear from her cheek before setting the letter down. "I wonder why Mom never said anything to me?" She said half out loud to herself. It was early enough in the evening that her mom shouldn't be asleep yet, so Kim decided to go and ask.

…x x x x…

The younger Possible knocked softly on her parent's bedroom door, eliciting a response from inside. "Yes?"

The door cracked open and Kim spoke. "Mom? Can I talk to you in private? It won't take long."

"Sure Honey, let me get a robe on."

It only took a minute or two and Anne quietly opened the door so as not to wake her husband and then shut it behind her. "Sorry Kimmie, your father was bushed, and he's out like a light."

"I didn't wake you?"

"No, I was just doing some light reading." Anne lifted the book so Kim could see the title. 'Cranial Orthoscopy: The Challenges and Triumphs'.

Kim smirked. "Light reading? Riiiight."

"Let's go to your father's den. We can talk in there." The two quietly padded to James' den and sat down on the small couch side by side. Anne turned towards her daughter. "So you wanted to talk about something? Is everything OK with Ronald? He hasn't hurt you in anyway, has he?"

Kim chuckled. "No Mom, it's nothing like that." She then produced the letter. "I received a piece of fan mail today that's from someone I think you may know."

Anne took the letter and read it without saying a word. She then closed her eyes, took Kim's hand and then opened them. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Katie Kim, but I wanted her to reach out to you herself. She had been feeling down, and that's why I suggested writing the letter."

"So she's OK?" Kim's eyes were full of hope.

"Well, she still has the cancer, but she's continuing to fight. I've never seen such will power in someone so little. She's been in intensive care for almost a week now, so she must have written that letter just before we moved her. It would mean so much if you could show up. I… don't think she has much longer." The older red head took her daughter's hand and gave it squeeze before letting it go.

It's settled then." Kim said with determination. "Tomorrow after school I'm skipping Cheer practice, and Ron and I will be there as soon as we can."

…x x x x…

The next day in school Kim seemed distracted wherever she went. "… Miss Possible?" A deep voice said causing her head to snap up. "Did you hear the question?" Mr. Barkin was looking a little irritated, as his prize student wasn't acting like herself.

"Umm, sorry sir, no I didn't. Could you please repeat it?"

Mr. Barkin grumbled. "If President Kennedy never put forth the challenge to reach the moon before the end of the decade, would NASA be as successful today as it is?"

The red head's mind was non- characteristically blank.

"Ohh… Ohh… Mr. Barkin, I know!" Ron was literally bouncing in his seat with his hand raised.

"Very well, Stoppable, if you must." Mr. Barkin wasn't in the mood for this particular irritant.

"NASA would still be around Sir, but their movie making skills would be suspect, since they wouldn't have had a need to fake the moon landing in the first place." He finished with a big smile.

The entire class collectively groaned and slapped their foreheads. Ron's only response was a confused "What?" After that embarrassment, Kim pulled herself together, and for the remaining two classes and she was paying full attention.

After the last bell rang, both Kim and Ron were at their respective lockers putting away their books. "Ron, don't forget we're going to the hospital for…"

"Kim!" Wade interrupted the young cheerleader. "Frugal Lucre was let out of jail on a technicality, and he's been spotted inside Middleton Mall running around with a powerful lap top! He's tapping into different stores' computer systems and changing the prices of everything to **one cent**! It's causing crowds to get ugly and there's even some rioting going on! I can't block his signal since the WiFi in the mall is so spotty." His eyes suddenly went wide. "OH NO!"

"What's wrong Wade?" Kim was starting to get worried.

"He's at the food court and he's just changed the prices of all Slurpsters to a hundred dollars! For a **small**!" Kim heard Ron wailing off to her side as he had heard the last communication from Wade.

A growl issues from between Kim's teeth. "Calm down and tell me what I need to do. Ron and I have someplace important to be."

"You need to get that lap top from Lucre and shut down his signal. He's using Burst technology to send and receive signals, and that makes it really hard for me to hack in to his system. It either needs to be powered off, or destroyed." Wade then took a sip from his own Slurpster as he held it almost reverently, thinking it might be his last one for a looong time.

…x x x x…

Kim and Ron arrived at the mall within ten minutes, and right away they could see the havoc that a one cent sales could raise. People were fighting over everything from treadmills to trinkets, and bongo drums to beach balls.

"Ron! The last place Frugal was seen was the food court, so I'll head there, and you can go to the far corner next to Fredrika's of Middleton. We'll be on opposite ends of the mall, and we can work our way to the middle. If you see Frugal before I do, call me on your communicator."

The two split up and took their respective positions. Then, just as planned, they started to sweep the mall.

…x x x x…

On Ron's end, he wasn't seeing anything except for a few people here and there fighting over certain items. He couldn't believe some of the things people were fighting over, and he couldn't help but watch two older women fighting over a swim suit that was obviously at least two sizes too small for either of them.

As Kim walked her end, at first she didn't see hide-nor-hair of Frugal, but then she caught some movement out the corner of her eye. Curious enough, she went over to the area she saw the movement, and just as she peeked through a rack of corduroy pants… wait, corduroy? Kim struck pay dirt.

"Gotcha." She said under her breath and jumped out from behind the rack. "Stop right there, Lucre. You're under arrest. Now hand over that lap top and…" Suddenly the image of her prey flickered and disappeared! "Hologram!"

Quickly Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator, pressed a few buttons, and it only took a few seconds for the powerful little device to determine where the signal for the hologram came from, and it was one of the dressing rooms nearby.

Quietly Kim started checking doors, and finally it was the last one she tried that was locked. She placed an ear to the door and she heard Lucre's voice. Kim took out the comb-like device that Wade had given her a few years ago and placed it next to the lock. A few lights blinked and a soft click was heard, as the door was unlocked.

Kim keyed up Ron and whispered into her Kimmunicator. "Ron… I found him. Lucre's in a changing room inside of TC Nickle's. I'm going to try and stop him, but get here as soon as you can!" She keyed off the unit before Ron could respond.

Quietly the teen hero grabbed the doorknob, and quickly pulled the door open. "Ahhhhh! Possible! What are you doing? I could have been half-naked in here!"

Kim smirked. "But you're not. Although it does look like I caught you in the act. Now hand over that computer."

"Never! My mom gave this to me after she had bought it on discount at Best Purchase!" Not being the best at reading a person's body language, Frugal Lucre hadn't noticed that Kim had taken up a position that put her between him and his only exit. This position also placed her close enough to…

"Hey! That's mine!" Kim had easily snatched the laptop from the man's fingers as he was talking.

"Looks like you're done for, Lucre." Kim said as she backed through the door while keeping an eye on the penny-pinching villain.

"I got your back Kim!" Ron said right behind her as she backed out. This surprised her enough that Lucre was able to bull-rush the two and grab his computer. The only thing he hadn't counted on was the smallest member of Team Possible. As he started to run with his computer suddenly Frugal started laughing almost hysterically and acting like something was crawling all over him. In actuality, there was, and it was Rufus.

"Get… this… pink thing… off me!" He was able to say and the two heroes calmly walked up to Lucre. Both held out a hand, and in Kim's hand landed the computer, and in Ron's hand landed his little rodent buddy.

"Nice job Rufus. I owe you come Gouda later."

"It's a Gouda cheese!" Rufus squeaked as he rubbed his little paws together.

Kim then glanced at the time. "Ron! We need to get going! Visiting Hours are about up at the hospital! We need to go!"

…x x x x…

Kim broke a few speeding laws on their way to the hospital, and she was lucky they didn't get stopped. Of course if anyone saw the speeding red car, they would just think Team Possible was on another mission and was in a hurry. Which, in actuality, wasn't that far from the truth.

The two rushed in and went up to the main desk. "Hey Margie!" Kim said as they skidded to a stop. "What room is Katie Aldredge in?"

"She's still in intensive care Kim. She took a turn for the worse."

"No…" Immediately the now distraught red head snatched the hand of her boyfriend and took off like a rocket towards the intensive care ward.

The two arrived and worriedly looked in through the glass door. "Kim?" An orderly said just as they walked by in the hall. "You… you're really here. I… I thought Katie was just…" The orderly at first sounded confused, but then figured out what may have happened. "I'm glad you're here. She's been talking about you. You know the procedure to enter, so go on in."

Both Kim and Ron then proceeded to wash their hands, put on a thin white lab-style coat, and put on their face masks and nitrile gloves.

As the two approached Katie's bedside, both saw her blue eyes go wide when she saw her hero walking towards her. "Kim! You made it!" Her voice was muffled behind the oxygen mask. "You're mom said you would be coming by. I didn't know if you would find me here since I was moved." The young girl took a deep breath.

Kim took the girls' hand and squeezed. After a quick glance at the heart monitor, which had its volume turned off, the redhead put her full attention on Katie. "We came here as soon as we could Katie."

"I… I've wanted to meet you for a long time, Kim." The ten-year-old girl with blond hair and blue eyes took a shaky breath and smiled. "I… I'm a little nervous."

"Oh Katie," Kim said as she squeezed the young girl's hand a bit more. " _I'm_ the one who's nervous."

The young girl's eyes narrowed. "Why… are _you_ nervous?" She labored to take another breath.

Kim couldn't help but let a tear fall down her cheek. "Be… because you said in your letter that I was your… your hero." She was about to completely break down when Kim suddenly felt a strong hand take her free one and squeeze hard.

This simple gesture gave Kim strength to continue what she wanted to say. "Because Katie Aldredge… _you_ … are MY hero." The red head fought to put a smile on her face as the two locked eyes.

A large smile could then be seen underneath the oxygen mask, and Katie took a long ragged breath before exhaling one last time as her eyes slowly closed. Kim waited a few seconds before finally glancing up at the silent heart monitor, which was now showing a flat line, confirming her fears.

Kim Possible, hero to one, and hero to all… turned and took hold of her boyfriend, who said not a word, but just let this redheaded hero squeeze as tight as she wanted.

There was no way Ron Stoppable could ever match the strength of the hug, and there wasn't anything he could really say to her to help. All he could do was comfort this young girl, this hero, and do what he'd always done. Have her back.

And the funny thing was… Ron Stoppable never once thought of himself as anything but a boyfriend to Kim Possible, the greatest hero ever.

The End…

* * *

I sincerely hope that I have not offended anyone with this little story. I don't know that much about cancer, or intensive care wards, I just wrote what I thought sounded good. I… just had this idea for a story and wanted to get it out there.

Thank-you…


End file.
